COLUMBUS — Mark Thomas, a former Belmont County commissioner, St. Clairsville councilman and attorney, was scheduled to self-surrender to federal authorities to begin serving his five-year sentence for mail fraud on Friday.

According to the federal inmate locator service at bop.gov, Thomas was not registered as a prisoner in custody late Friday night. Randilee Giamusso, spokesman for the office of public affairs with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, responded to a request from The Times Leader for information on Thomas’s status via email at 2:42 p.m. Friday. At that time Giamusso wrote that Thomas “is not currently in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons.”

Giamusso also noted in that message that specific designation information about a prisoner is not releasable until after an individual arrives at his or her destination.

“We do not provide specific information on the status of inmates who are not in the custody of the BOP,” he wrote.

According to misinformation available on bop.gov, when a convict is ordered by the court to voluntarily surrender, the U.S. Marshals Service notifies that person of a surrender date and provides the name of the institution where they are to surrender or directs them to surrender to the Marshals Service.

The site also states that after arriving at an institution, each inmate is interviewed and screened by staff before being assigned to the Admission and Orientation Program to undergo formal orientation to the programs, services, policies and procedures of that facility.

In late May, Thomas, 63, was granted an extension of about two weeks to turn himself in due to a doctor’s appointment. This came after numerous delays in his sentencing following his guilty plea in August.

The extensions were due to health reasons and to review the facts of the case.

The charges are unrelated to Thomas’s public service.

Thomas pleaded guilty to mail fraud in a case where he was accused of defrauding an elderly client of his former law firm while serving as her power of attorney, taking her money without her knowledge or permission and using it for his own benefit.

The fraud occurred from 2012-19. The indictment against Thomas states that he improperly used his power of attorney and status as a lawyer, even after his law license was revoked in 2015, to convince banks, life insurance companies and other organizations to transfer the client’s money for his use.

In a memorandum, Thomas’s attorney Andrew P. Avellano had asked Judge Algenon Marbley of the U.S. Southern District of Ohio to consider a sentence of 51 months. He cited Thomas’s age and health issues and added that Thomas could begin to make meaningful restitution to the victim’s heirs if he was released sooner. Avellano also asked the judge to consider that Thomas had known the victim, said he cared about her well-being and intended to repay the money but got “in over his head.”

In 2019 after concluding his term as a commissioner at the end of 2018, Thomas served 30 days in jail for contempt of court for failing to comply with a court order to turn over documents from his private law practice related to the case. He later complied with the records request. A lawsuit related to that case was dismissed. The contempt charge had no connection to his role as an elected official.

The Ohio Board of Professional Conduct in Columbus suspended Thomas’s law license in Ohio in 2015 after he reportedly failed to file an answer to a formal complaint pending before the board.

In 2021, Thomas ran unopposed for St. Clairsville City Council’s 3rd Ward seat and was elected. He served in that role until his August 2022 resignation following his guilty plea.